Margrit Lewczuk - Drawing into Painting

Janet Kurnatowski is pleased to present “Drawing Into Paint”, new works by Margrit Lewczuk. Included in Lewczuk’s first solo show with the gallery will be a selection of paintings, and over sixty works on paper that are either drawn, painted, collaged or woven together. The show runs from April 29 - May 29, 2011. There will be a reception for the artist on Friday, April 29th, 7-9pm.

Lewczuk’s drawings offer a glimpse into how the paintings are made. Her colors are vibrant and pulsating, ranging from florescent greens to striking blues, luscious hot reds and fuchsia’s with a sprinkle of rich earthly tones. Her travels to exotic lands such as Timbuktu, Bamako, Tunisia, Mexico, Mali & Dogon in West Africa influence the rhythms, colors and mark making in her drawings and paintings. The surroundings of rich textiles, pottery, ruins, ancient carvings all seep into the work; her tribal motifs are painted freehand onto large white linens in lush colors, resulting in geometric patterns that twist and bend the planes of space. Roberta Smith says, “Her interlacing, overlapping forms, for the most part organized in grids and other quadrilateral arrangements, balance with distinctive awkwardness between organic and geometric, their boisterous scale held in check by taut layering. The resulting flatness is nearly concave; the shapes seem carved, or maybe nailed down, like abstract animal skins. The resulting tension has a pulsating energy that is visionary…”

Lewczuk has been in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including P.S.1 Museum, Betty Cuningham Gallery, Matthew Marks Gallery, Pamela Auchincloss Gallery, Sideshow Gallery and Parker’s Box to name a few. She has been awarded the Esther and Adolph Gottlieb Foundation Grant, Raushenberg Foundation, Guggenheim Fellowship Grant, National Endowment for the Arts Artist's Fellowship and the CAPS grant. For more information or images please contact the gallery.